In terms of medicine and technology, we are living in a very exciting time. Advancements in these two areas, have had a large, positive effect on the overall quality of life for individuals, as people are living longer than ever before. As individuals age however, they tend to experience physical and mental declines, as the body and mind aren’t created to efficiently work forever. There has been much research around how age affects the minds ability to process information. One particular topic of interest, is the effect of age on short-term or working memory “loss”.
Short-term or working memory, is the short-duration memory process used to store small amounts of information for brief periods of time. Considered to be “our window on the present”, it is defined as “a limited capacity system for temporary storage and manipulation of information for complex tasks such as comprehension, learning, and reasoning.(Goldstein, 2015) Often referred to as “the brain’s Post-It note”, short-term memory is able to hold a small amount of information, about 7 items or less, active and easily accessible in the mind, for about 15 seconds. Short-term memory works by storing small amounts of information until new information presents itself. Consisting of the phonological loop, the visuospatial sketch pad, and the central executive, sensory information is encoded, stored, and used according to the central executive. The phonological loop is responsible for the holding and processing of verbal, and auditory information, while the visuospatial sketch pad holds visual and spatial information.
Recently, I was having a conversation with my mother, where I was explaining to her how to use some computer software to run reports. We sat down and reviewed the steps in the procedure, as I showed her exactly what she needed to do. I live about 10 minutes away from her, and by the time I had returned home, she was calling me because she couldn’t remember the steps. Between the time I had left and returned home, she had taken a few minutes to get the results of some tennis matches that had occurred earlier in the day. As I began explaining the information to her, she remembered the directions without me having to walk her through the information all over again.
This event is an example of the effects of age on short-term or working memory. There has been much research that suggests that in many cases, the effects of age on memory doesn’t necessarily result in actual “loss” of memory, but instead of some sort of impairment in memory processing. An article out of the Journals of Gerontology cites research that suggests that aging slows the access to temporal information from short-term or working memory. The results of the study suggest that older individuals don’t necessarily forget information, but have a “slower deployment of controlled memory operations. (Asli, Zeynep & Oztekin, 2017) These finding can be used to explain why my mother had a difficult time recalling information she had just received. The information was in her phonological loop, but due to retroactive interference (the tennis results she looked up), she was unable to recall the information efficiently. Once I began to explain, (which made the report directions the more recent information), the tennis results suffered the retroactive interference, and she began to recall the report information.
It has been well established that aging causes a decline in the performance across various memory tasks. As we grow older, we experience physiological changes that can impair brain functioning. In many instances, it becomes more difficult to learn (encode) and recall (retrieve) information. This affects individuals’ ability to remember information and explains much of the perceived memory impairment associated with older age.
Aslı Kılıç, Zeynep Ceyda Sayalı, Ilke Öztekin; Aging Slows Access to Temporal Information From Working Memory, The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, Volume 72, Issue 6, 1 October 2017, Pages 996–1005, https://doi-org.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/10.1093/geronb/gbw003
Goldstein, E. (2015). Short-Term and Working Memory. In COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY: Connecting Mind, Research, and Everyday Experience (4th ed., pp. 119-149). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.
This entry spoke to me because I experience issues with my short-term memory. I suffer short-term memory loss due to contracting Lyme disease several years ago. As mentioned in our textbook, “short-term memory (STM) is the system involved in storing small amounts of information for a brief period of time” (Baddeley et al., 2009) . I struggle every day to store small amounts of information in my short-term memory. I am unable to remember simple things as the answer to a question that I have asked. For instance, I asked my son what he ate for lunch at school, only to have me ask the question again a few moments later because I am unable to recall what his answer was. Boy does this aggravate a 9-year-old to no end.
I find that I have to work twice as hard to learn information. I will read a chapter, walk away and not remember anything that I just read. Sometimes I feel like I have amnesia! As you can imagine, it’s quite frustrating to have to read chapters several times so that small amounts of information will hopefully be stored.
Also, you mentioned that as you age physiological changes occur in the brain making it harder to learn (encode) and recall (retrieve) information. Maybe my issue is age-related or maybe it’s the Lyme Disease or maybe it’s both. Either way, If growing older affects short-term memory, than I am in bigger trouble then I thought.
Goldstein, E. (2015). Short-Term and Working Memory. In COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY: Connecting Mind, Research, and Everyday Experience (4th ed., pp. 126 ). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.